HUNTER, HEELEYfc, BOSTON ONEIDIASfc

The Summer this year, in South Yorkshire has brought football fans to gather in local pubs, clubs and friends houses to view the spectacle unfolding in American Stadiums, the very best of the FIFA World Cup, showing speed, skill and precision. The competition began in Sheffield, developed in Scotland and travelled across the oceans, especially to the USA. It was in Sheffield that the game developed from a casual kick around from Mob "Football" to a serious event between two teams of around eleven people.

Structure began to emerge on once muddy fields and then on to organised spaces, marked out, with goals and eventually a referee! Sheffield Norfolk was one of those organised clubs coming together with scientific play in the 1864-5 season. The Sheffield team was described as playing "scientifically" and "kicking the ball to one another, to get round their opponents". This was happening two years before the modern Scottish club, Queen's Park, was founded in Glasgow. The Scots pioneered the "pyramid" and triangle passing system, that has developed through the decades.

An Englishman, Jack Hunter, was one of the key English players who used tactical development, playing for Heeley FC in the 1870s. Some time before the "short-passing" system was developed, using "space" efficiently, a more expansive and deliberate style emerged, spread across the full width of the cricket pitch. The players were positioned over the space which was quite large, of course, and there was less running needed, the ball did the work! Sorry, not a great picture!

Jack Hunter moved across the Pennines to Lancashire, to Blackburn, where he became coach and player in a team of local tradesmen, that won the FA Cup in 1883, the first "working class" club to achieve this. The club was called Blackburn Olympic. The Sheffield style of long passes to the wings, long ball directly down the pitch and precise crosses was clearly effective! George Wilson of Swinton played in every round and scored in the first five. As English men (families) migrated to America, the passing game was spread abroad. 

In 1905 and again in 1909, a touring side known as "The Pilgrims" went on a "high profile" tour to the Americas and Canada, hoping to spread knowledge of the game further west! as soccer had fallen by the wayside as American Football began to appeal more to the Americans. 

Boston's Oneidias FC had been the first American to favour the "rugby/football" variant in 1862, in a team of Prep-school graduates. The first English Association rules match was played in 1866, nine years after Sheffield FC was founded, the oldest known cub in England.

The American Football Association and the National Association Football League both closed in 1898 as the "home grown" Americam Football gained more appeal. The Pilgrims, made up from amateurs were brought in to help popularise the "carpet" football game as Americans called it! 

Behind the scenes was Frederick Milnes from Wortley (a village near Sheffield and Barnsley), who organised tours and began to "advertise" the game. Helping was Jack Hudson another local from nearby Brightside. Across the Atlantic, cities mirrored South Yorkshire in grit and graft, and so football found new locations, such as Detroit, St Louis, Chicago and Philadelphia, industrial cities. The Pilgrims played 17 games there in 1905, with spectators numbering 15,000 a game. Such was the success of the tour, that the AFA reopened the following year, with a second tour in 1909. 21 games were arranged in the large industrial cities. 

1996-97 SEASON: NOT A FAVOURITE FOR MIDDLESBROUGH!

Just just been watching footy on the telly...it's after 5pm..have a guess which match! and now..

The 1997 FA Cup final was the 116th final. It took place on 17 May 1997 at Wembley and was contested by Chelsea and Middlesbrough, the Teesside club appearing in its first FA Cup Final. Chelsea won the match, 2–0, to win the FA Cup for the second time, the first having come in 1970. It was also the club's first major trophy in 26 years.

The match was the first major honour in the career of most Chelsea's players, but for Mark Hughes, it was the fourth time that he had featured in an FA Cup winning side, having played on the winning Man Utd teams of 1985, 1990 and 1994. It was Middlesbrough's second defeat in a Cup Final in the 1996-7 season, they had also lost the Football League Final to Leicester City the previous month and they were also relegated from the Premier League.

Middlesbrough ended a disappointing season with a 2-0 FA Cup Final 1997 defeat against Chelsea! Chelsea's first goal came from Roberto Di Matteo after just 42 seconds! which at the time was the quickest FA Cup Final goal - since beaten by Louis Saha for Everton in 2009 (25 seconds). Chelsea's victory saw their manager, Ruud Gullit, become the first foreign manager to lead his team to an FA Cup triumph - now we wonder when there will be another winning team with an English manager!  Ha, Ha, 

Apart from being beaten in their first FA Cup Final, the 1996/97 season had also seen Middlesbrough beaten in their first League Cup Final (by Leicester) - and they suffered relegation from the Premier League! Busy disappointing moments!! 

The club's Premier League Position was 19th including 3 points deducted for postponing a match without FL permission!! 

Middlesbrough called off their Premier League game at Blackburn without permission the day before the scheduled date of Saturday 21st December 1996. They claimed that they were unable to field a competitive team as they had 23 players unavailable because of injury, illness or suspension!! Blackburn argued that they should have been awarded the points but the match was ordered to be played and Middlesbrough suffered a 3 point deduction and a £50,000 fine. The loss of the points saw them relegated . AND.....

** Middlesbrough were drawn away to Conference side Hednesford Town in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup but the venue was switched to their Riverside Stadium.

+ Middlesbrough's Coca Cola Cup (League Cup) Final against Leicester was played at Wembley and the final replay at Hillsborough, Sheffield Wednesday FC.

++ Middlesbrough's FA Cup semi-final against Chesterfield was played at Old Trafford, Manchester United FC, and the replay at Hillsborough, Sheffield Wednesday FC.

Season 1996-7 Played 38 Home W 8 D 5 L 6 F34 A25 Away W2 D 7 L 10 F17 A35 Total Pts 39 19th

FA CUP FINAL TODAY....A FEW YEARS AGO too!!

 OKay, OKay, so we could research the FA Cup Finals that Manchester City have played in, but I am leaving that for a while....on this day in 1998, Arsene Wegner's French Revolution at Arsenal began to pay dividends when The Gunners defeated Newcastle Utd at Wembley, in the FA Cup Final, thanks to goals from Marc Overmars and Nicholas Anelka...remember them? The victory meant that the club had secured their second League and Cup Double after Wegner became the first foreign manager to win the League in just his second season at Highbury. Of course, much has changed since then! Hope you can read the team sheet!

Can you read this? If not try the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_FA_Cup_final

SPURS AND BILL

May 15th, 1963, Tottenham Hotspur, helped Britain to join Europe in football, by becoming the first British club to WIN a major European Trophy, when the Spurs beat favourites, Atletico Madrid 5-1 in the European Cup Winners Cup. It was contested between Tottenham Hotspur of England and the defending champions, Atlético Madrid of Spain. The match was held at Feijenoord Stadion in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Tottenham won the match, 5–1 thanks to goals by Jimmy Greaves (2), John White and Terry Dyson (2). 

The Spurs of course, had won the FA Cup at Wembley on May 5th, beating Burnley 3-1,  in front of a full Stadium (100,000 folks). Just thought I would mention this bit of Spurs' history, bless them! and then get back to today...well it is MAY! 

This was the beginning of a Spurs' "hey day"??(day??) MAYBE a period when under manager, Bill Nicholson, the Spurs would go on to win more trophies for a decade (or so) under his guidance.

Bill Nicholson, Mr Tottenham (January 26 1919 – October 23 2004). Player! and more.....he said,

"It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory."

Born on this day in 1919, Bill Nicholson’s contribution to the history of Tottenham Hotspur will surely never be surpassed.

Joining the Club as a teenage member of the ground staff in 1936, Bill went on to serve Spurs in almost every capacity – as a player, coach, assistant manager and manager – across a remarkable 38-year period. During that time, he was part of Arthur Rowe’s famous ‘push and run’ team that lifted our first Division One title in 1950/51 and then, as manager, led the team to eight major honors.

As a player, Bill made his professional debut in October 1938 and went on to make 341 appearances for the Club. He was a key figure in the back-to-back title successes of 1949/50 and 1950/51, helping Spurs win the Division Two championship followed by the Club’s first ever First Division title.

He missed just one league match during the 1950/51 title-winning season and earned an England cap in May 1951, scoring with his first touch against Portugal.

Always interested in coaching and development, Bill was appointed coach in 1955 before taking over as manager in October 1958. What followed was the most successful period in the Club’s history.

Under Bill’s leadership, Tottenham Hotspur became the first Club in the 20th century to win the League and FA Cup Double in 1960/61. Further honours followed, with FA Cup wins in 1962 and 1967, the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1963 – making Spurs the first British Club to win a European trophy and the UEFA Cup in 1972 and Football League Cup triumphs in 1971 and 1973.

During this era, Bill assembled a team that played with style, confidence and attacking intent. After stepping away from his managerial role in 1974, Bill returned to the Club in 1976, working behind the scenes in a scouting and advisory capacity, for a further 21 years.

Bill lived close to White Hart Lane for much of his life and passed away on October 23, 2004, aged 85.

Never forgotten, Bill Nicholson.

William Edward Nicholson OBE (26 January 1919 – 23 October 2004)

SPOILERS

Yesterday Manchester United wanted to spoil the party at White Hart Lane by taking the last touch! Herrera had the last touch of the last game on the WHL pitch. The last goal was scored by Wayne Rooney after 71 minutes. The last thrown in was by Blind, the last foul and booking by Bailly and the last offside was Rashford's. But Eriksen took the last corner (sadly, I don't know who took the last free kick or goal kick or dropped ball.......??). I guess I could look through the film footage but well let's just celebrate Tottenham's unbeaten run at home with 22 wins and 2 draws which ended last night.

By coincidence on May 14th 1981, Spurs beat Manchester City 3-2 in the FA Cup Final replay with Villa scoring 2 and Crooks 1.

Tottenham Hotspur have played at White Hart Lane for 118 years and two sets of famous singers made the last game yesterday to celebrate, Chas and Dave and Hoddle and Waddle. There were many other greats on show including Charterhouse Football professional, David Howells.

David very kindly helped my school colleague Bob Noble arrange a leaving "party" for my retirement which was held at the Lane and on pitch.
School players, Old Carthusians and parents and friends who fancied it, played on the pitch over two halves. We were allowed to use the facilities, home and away changing rooms and afterwards had a reception in the Pat Jennings' hospitalty suite behind the "right hand goal" as you come out of the tunnel.

My earliest memories of White Hart Lane were from the 1960s when I was taken to see Spurs play on a couple of occasions in the club's "Double Year".

I was hooked having supported Blackpool as a nipper because of Stanley Matthews. My brother supported Preston because of Tom Finney. I saw Blackpool play when they came to Fratton Park although Matthews alledgedly never played south of London!

Spurs became my team and it was fitting to end my working career at the Lane. I scored the winning penalty in the final minutes, the penalty given away by my son who was playing for the opposition.
This game ended 4-4 after Spurs had been 4-1 up. Ray Pointer, the Burnley centre-forward, did the damage.

CRUYFF ROUGH

Ajax's decision not to offer Johan Cruyff a new contract at the end of the 1982-3 season would backfire on the Dutch club. The three-time Ballon d'Or winner was so incensed at the decision that he joined arch-rivals Feyenoord and led the Dutch club to the national "Double", including their first league title for a decade. The Dutch "master" played his last match on this day (May13th) in 1984, a win over PEC Zwolle.

In 1990 things went a little further than Cruyff's feud with Ajax when Dinamo Zagreb met Red Star Belgrade, sparking a mass riot that was symbolically seen a the first act of the Croation War of independence! At the time Yugoslavia was on the verge of political and economic collapse and the match became highly politicised, with the police making no attempts to quell the beginning of a brawl which soon spilled on to the pitch and would rage for 70 minutes.

The Dinamo Zagreb–Red Star Belgrade riot was a riot., which took place on 13 May 1990 at  the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, SR Croatia, then part of SFR Yugoslavia, between the Bard Blue Boys (supporters of Dinamo Zagreb) and the Delije (supporters of RS Belgrade). The incident took place just weeks after Croatia's first multi-party elections) in almost fifty years in which the parties favouring Croatian Independence had won the majority of votes. The riot resulted in over sixty people wounded, including some stabbed, shot or poisoned by tear gas.

JOSE-as expected much to say! Almost!!

José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix born 26 January 1963, is a Portuguese professional football manager, coach and former player, who is currently the head coach of Premeira Club Benfica. His team is currently unbeaten in the Portuguese league, even though they are third on the table. The veteran manager refused to discuss his future this week ahead of Benfica’s final game of the season against Estoril Praia. He said: “There’s a match against Estoril, and from Monday onwards I’ll be able to answer questions about my future as a coach and Benfica’s future.” He is shown below being lauded by one of his previous hero players!!

Self-nicknamed "the Special One", he is one of the most decorated managers of all time. Mourinho has won league championships in four countries, is one of only seven managers to have won the European Cup with two clubs, and is the only manager to have won all three current UEFA club competitions.

After an uneventful career as a midfielder in Portuguese Leagues, Mourinho retired from playing aged 24 and moved into coaching. He was first an interpreter for Bobby Robson at Sporting CP and Porto, before gaining success as an assistant at Barcelona under Robson and his successor, Louis van Gaal. After brief managerial stints at Benfica and Unaio de Leiria, Mourinho returned to Porto in 2002, winning two Primeria League titles, the Taca de Portugual, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. That success earned him a move to Chelsea in 2004, where he remarked, "I think I'm [the] special one" at his first press conference, leading to British media dubbing him "the Special One". With Chelsea, Mourinho won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup, and two League Cups in three seasons, before departing in 2007 amid reports of disagreements with owner Roman Abramovich. 

In 2008, Mourinho joined Italian club Inter Milan. He led them to the Serie A title in his first season, before winning a continental treble!! That is, the Coppa Intalia and the UEFA Champions League—in 2010, a first in history for an Italian club. This made him one of five coaches to have won the European Cup with two clubs, and later that year, he was crowned the inaugural FIFA World Coach of the Yeat. 

Mourinho then moved to Real Madrid in Spain, where he won the La Liga title in 2011-12, breaking several domestic records for points, goals scored, and wins in a season. He also became the fifth coach to win league titles in four countries. Mourinho left Real Madrid in 2013 and rejoined Chelsea, where he won another League title and League Cup, but was dismissed in 2015 after a poor run of results.

Mourinho was appointed manager of Manchester United in 2016 and of Tottenham Hotspur in 2019, but both tenures ended acrimoniously. At Old Trafford, he won the Community Shield, League Cup and UEFA Europa League in his first season. At Tottenham, he led the team to a League Cup final. He managed Roma from 2021 to 2024, winning the inaugural UEFA Europa ConferenceLeaguew in his first season. This was Roma's first European title and their first trophy since 2008. The achievement made Mourinho the first manager to win a major European competition with four different clubs and the third to win all three European competitions. He joined Turkish Super League club, Fenerbahce in July 2024, but was sacked in August 2025 after failing to qualify for the Champions League.

Mourinho was named Portuguese Coach of the Century by the Portuguese Federation (FPF) in 2015. Due to his tactical knowledge, charismatic and controversial personality, and a reputation for prioritising results over attractive football, he has drawn comparisons—from both admirers and critics with Argentine manager Helenio Herrera.

Early life: Mourinho was born in 1963 into a large middle-class family in Setubal, Portugal, as the son of goalkeeper José Manuel Mourinho Félix, who was known by the name Félix Mourinho, and primary school teacher Maria Júlia Carrajola dos Santos.  Family: His father played football professionally for Vitoria Setubel and Belenenses, earning one cap for Portugal in 1972, and later worked as a football manager and the club director of Vitória de Setúbal.  His mother was raised by her uncle Mário Lêdo, who came to control the Setúbal sardine canning industry!! and kept a mansion in Aires near Palmela, where Mourinho grew up with his parents. 

Education:  Mourinho failed in the subject of mathematics during the final year of high school, and this prevented him from finishing high school in time to enrol at the physical education college as was his wish. After finishing high school in the special examination period of September, his mother enrolled him in a private business school because there were no vacant seats for him in the physical education college and his mother believed business school would bring him to a more successful career path. Mourinho dropped out of business school on his first day, deciding he would rather focus on sport, and chose to attend the Instituto Superior de Educação Física of the Technical University of Lisbon to study physical education. He was taught there by his mentor Manuel Sergio, the ex-chairman and deputy director of Belenenses (1975–77), whose humanist approach to kinesiology he later cited as formative!!  

After Mourinho concluded his education in ISEF, he attended coaching courses held by the English and Scottish Football Associations. In this period of his life, former Scotland manager Andy Roxburgh took note of the young Portuguese's drive and attention to detail. Mourinho sought to redefine the role of coach in football by mixing coaching theory with motivational and psychological techniques.

Playing career:  

Mourinho wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and joined the Belenenses youth team. Graduating to the senior level, he left the club in 1980 to sign for Rio Ave, where he played for the reserve team, and in 1981, was joined by his father, who was named first team manager. There, he struck up a prolific partnership with veteran striker Mário Reis. According to former teammate Baltemar Brito (who would become an assistant to Mourinho early on his managerial career), the duo scored around 100 goals, with Mourinho netting forty-seven times. In addition to playing for the reserves, Mourinho was usually tasked with scouting other teams for his father. He was rarely selected by his father, but he made his debut for the club in the third round of the Taça de Portugal, in a 2–1 extra time win over Salguerios. 

On the final day of the campaign against champions-elect Sporting CP, a defender was injured in the pre-match warm up, so he was told to get changed. Club president José Maria Pinho, fearing the threat of nepotism, overruled the decision to do so; the incident saw the pair leave to join Belenenses in the summer. Mourinho mostly spent the season playing for the reserve team, and he played for the first team in the second round of the Taca de Portugal against Clube Desportivo de Vila Franca, an amateur club from Sao Miguel Island in the Azores. With Belenenses 8–0 up at half-time, Mourinho came on as a second-half substitute and scored a hat-trick as the team won 17–0, which remains the club's biggest ever victory in the tournament. 

When his father returned to Rio Ave, Mourinho did not go with him and continued to play in the lower levels of the Portuguese League system, first with Sesimbra, and then for Comercio Industria, where he finished his career. At the latter club, he was captain of the team and would save the life of a teammate who had gotten trapped in a car that had caught fire. Mourinho decided that he lacked the requisite pace and power to become a professional and chose to focus on becoming a football coach instead.

Coaching career: 

After leaving his job as a physical education school teacher, Mourinho looked for a path into professional football management in his hometown and became youth team coach at Vitória de Setúbal in the early 1990s. Later, he accepted the position of assistant manager at Estrela da Amadora then was a scout at Ovarense. Then, in 1992, an opportunity arose to work as a translator for a top foreign coach: Bobby Robson had been appointed as the new manager of Lisbon club Sporting CP and needed an English-speaking local coach to work as his Interpreter. Jose's lovely isn't he!